Gary Neville has been critical of two senior Chelsea players for their conduct following the 3-0 defeat against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.
Liam Rosenior's men have slipped further behind the likes of Liverpool and Aston Villa in the race for Champions League football, and were swept aside by the Citizens. Nico O'Reilly, Marc Guehi and Jeremy Doku all netted in the second half as City left west London with all three points.
Neville, who was on commentary for the Super Sunday clash, was then outspoken about the conduct of two Chelsea stars in particular. Not for their performances on the pitch, but their actions off it.
Gary Neville Unhappy With 'Ill-Disciplined' Chelsea Stars
gary neville
The two men in question were £106 million midfielder Enzo Fernandez and left-back Marc Cucurella. Both have been outspoken against their own club in recent weeks, with the former even serving the second of a club-imposed two-game suspension.
During the international break, Frenandez's agent hinted that the player was interested in a move to Madrid. The Argentine has since apologised to Rosenior and his teammates for that and other unnecessary comments over the March international break.
Meanwhile, Cucurella was vocal about feeling 'discouraged' by the owners' approach to the transfer market, insisting more experience was needed to win big trophies. Neville wasn't impressed with either man's public remarks, as he stated on his podcast after the Man City loss:
"It’s a struggle and you add to that the ill-discipline of Enzo Fernandez and Cucurella who have been speaking up in the last few weeks.
"As a football player in a dressing room, what do the rest of their teammates think?"
He even labelled the pair 'selfish', as he continued: "When you speak like they have, that’s entirely selfish. It’s entirely selfish. It’s not helping your manager who is young and inexperienced. It’s not helping your teammates. It’s not helping the fans because they’re thinking you’re discontent."
Watch Neville's full discussion about Enzo Fernandez and Marc Cucurella below (21:00 onwards)
Neville Agrees With Fernandez's Punishment
Enzo Fernandez applauding the Chelsea supporters
While Cucurella has retained his place in the Chelsea side, his teammate was forced to watch on from the sidelines on Sunday afternoon. The Sky Sports camera picked up a gloomy-looking Fernandez at Stamford Bridge.
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Neville believes the 'consequences' fit the crime, as he told Peter Drury: "When you’ve got the two experienced players that they have are demonstrating discontent and saying that the previous manager was good and we liked him and not sure why it changed. I agree there had to be consequences.
"What they’ve done is say you need to have the camera on you against Manchester City being in the stand with everyone knowing you’ve been ill-disciplined. That can’t be helpful.
"The problem is those players are still going in the dressing room having an influence and if they’ve got a bottom lip down by their shoe and sulking and slagging the club off, I think you’re going to have a difficult end to the season."